LG Optimus 3D Max P720 review: Remastered

Two 5MP producing 3MP 3D pictures

The LG Optimus 3D Max comes with a dual 5MP megapixel shooter, which sounds pretty decent on paper. The maximum resolution for 3D shots however is limited to 3MP, just like on the Optimus 3D.

On a positive note, the camera user interface is convenient, though many of the important settings are inside the extended settings menu, so they take a while to reach. The 2D interface is standard LG camera UI, except for the 3D toggle.

In 3D mode, you get some extra settings - like a slider to adjust the 3D depth and there's 3D focus mode too.

LG Optimus 3D camera UI (2D mode)

LG Optimus 3D camera UI (3D mode)

The camera features are pretty solid with face detection, continuous autofocus, touch focus and geotagging all on board, along with preset scenes and effects. The buttons and shortcuts on either side of the viewfinder auto-rotate as you switch between portrait and landscape mode, which is a nice touch.

An important difference from the original Optimus 3D is that the dedicated 3D key doubles as a shutter key in the camera app. The bad thing of course is it doesn't have half-press to accommodate auto-focus.

The LG Optimus 3D Max is a decent, if unspectacular cameraphone in standard 2D mode. The 5MP images have plenty of resolved detail, the colors are accurate, the contrast is good, and while noise levels are a little high, they are still tolerable. It's not There is a bit of room for improvement, but the overall quality is pleasing.

Here are some 2D camera samples from the Optimus 3D so you can judge the image quality for yourself.

LG Optimus 3D Max camera samples

Unfortunately the 3D shots have a damaging effect on the image quality. We are not talking just the resolution decrease to 3MP either. The resolved detail decrease and the noise levels get even higher. When viewed on the phone's screen though, the pictures look good.

You are welcome to check out the gallery of 3D samples we've prepared for you. You should use the Wiggle view mode (available as a switch in our pop-up viewer) to get a basic idea of the 3D effect without the need for glasses or a 3D screen. If you happen to have any of the supported anaglyph glasses at hand, you might want to go for the Anaglyph view mode too. Interlaced 3D screens are also supported.

3D photo samples from LG Optimus 3D Max

Alternatively, you may choose to download the jps files on your PC and open them with any JPS viewer. Those are the untouched 3MP camera samples straight from the LG Optimus 3D Max.

Photo quality comparison

The Optimus 3D Max did well in the synthetic tests, in terms of both resolved detail and the colors. The only problem we found was noise reduction smudging much of the detail in high-contrast areas.

LG Optimus 3D Max in our Photo Compare Tool

1080p 2D and 720p 3D videos

The LG Optimus 3D Max records video in two modes - 2D and 3D. In 2D, the phone can go up to 1080p resolution at 30fps, but as with the still camera, enabling the 3D mode lowers the maxumum resolution - 720p.

The video camera UI looks just like the still camera UI. Here you get the same 3D depth slider, the 3D focus mode plus an image stabilization option.

Camcorder UI (2D mode)

Camcorder UI (3D mode)

Video quality is quite pleasing, representing a huge improvement over the Optimus 3D. 1080p videos are shot in MP4 files and the bitrate is almost 17Mbps, which is more than enough. None of the 30 frames per seconds shot by the camera are repeated either so the videos are perfectly smooth. There is plenty of resolved detail, colors and contrast seem OK.

3D videos are limited to 720p resolution, use an MP4 encoding and have a framerate of 12Mbps. However, due to how videos are stored (the left and right frame are put side by side into a single 1280 x 720 frame), they have only half the horizontal resolution.

Here are the video samples. We have untouched 2D and 3D samples or you can check out the samples we uploaded to YouTube below.

And here are the 3D YouTube video samples - there's an option to adjust the 3D viewing method to match whatever you have (from fancy monitors to simple anaglyph glasses). And don't forget to choose 720p.

Video quality comparison

The LG Optimus 3D Max did a whole lot better than its predecessor in our Video Compare Tool. Its 1080p videos are much more detailed and are in fact one of the best we have seen. The Tool's page includes a quick walkthrough on how to use it and what to look for.